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Sara McMann, the first American woman in history to win a silver medal in wrestling at the Olympic Games in 2004, puts her perfect 5-0 professional MMA record on the line Saturday. Photo credit: Esther Lin/Invicta FC

Undefeated upstart focused on becoming the best mixed martial artist she can be – without making a mockery of the sport

By Joshua Molina

Sure, Ronda Rousey is the talk of the mixed martial arts world, and in some respects, rightfully so.

But there’s another emerging female star who is turning heads – without showing skin, or mouthing off about her opponents, celebrities or fellow Olympians.

Sara McMann will step into the cage on July 28 at an Invicta Fighting Championships card to fight Shayna Baszler, in an event that will be streamed live and for free at InvictaFC.com

Like Rousey, McMann is 5-0, and a former Olympian, even besting her, winning a Silver Medal in freestyle wrestling to Rousey’s Bronze in Judo.

McMann is tough, talented and focused on being the best mixed martial artist she can be – without making a mockery of the sport.

“I am in this much more for the sport aspect,” McMann told Full Contact Fighter. “Earlier in my career I was told to get out there and trash talk and make a scene, but this is my legacy. This is who I am as a person. I am not willing to sacrifice that. I would rather be poor and who I am. This is who I am – take it or leave it.”

McMann won the Silver Medal in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, becoming the first American woman to win the prize. The victory capped a stellar amateur career, one where she won a Silver Medal in the 2003 World Championships and a Bronze Medal in 2005 and 2007 World Championships.

Coming out of the Olympics, McMann was never interested in becoming an MMA fighter. She was content focusing on grappling and jiu-jitsu. But after throwing a few punches and working on her striking in the gym one day, McMann was hooked on fighting.

“It draws me like a moth to a flame,” said McMann, who made her professional debut on May 28, 2011.

Much of McMann’s MMA training has focused on her striking.

As a top-level wrestler, McMann is pretty much always in great shape and condition – but MMA is a different animal.

“The aim of MMA is to hurt people,” McMann said.

And she’s done plenty of that. She’s also been on the receiving end. She’s had her nose broken twice in her fights and spilled her blood inside the cage.

In wrestling, the fear is of feeling helpless, or getting caught in a move and feeling helpless, she said. In MMA, the fear is of getting knocking or breaking a body part.

If her success continues at Invicta FC on Saturday, McMann could find herself on a collision course with another Olympic medalist and undefeated MMA fighter, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey (pictured).

McMann may still be perfecting her striking, but her wrestling and conditioning might be unparalleled inside the cage.

The mental and physical discipline that wrestlers learn at a young age helps give her an advantage. For McMann, 31, working hard isn’t something you just do inside the gym. It’s a way of life.

“My transition has been pretty smooth,” she said. “I haven’t really run into areas where I am like ‘I don’t get this.”

The North Carolina-native said her team and people around her has helped push her to the next level in MMA.

“I have really great coaches that can break all of it down,” she said. “I understand the importance of repetition. It’s that feeling that you want to jump off a bridge head first, but instead you do the repetition. You can’t get really good in sports without repetition.”

McMann’s star is on the rise amid somewhat of a golden age of women’s MMA. Stars like Gina Carano, Marloes Coenen, Meisha Tate, Cris “Cyborg” Santos and now Ronda Rousey have launched women’s MMA into the mainstream like a spinning back kick.

And amid the success of the sport, has come some setbacks. Cyborg, the Strikeforce Featherweight Champion tested positive for performance enhancement drugs in January.

McMann is disgusted by the prevalence of PED’s in MMA.

“If someone tested positive in MMA, I am not a fan of theirs,” McMann said. “I understand that people make mistakes but I am not going to support them. You were cheating.”

She also said drugs destroy women.

“I hope that the changes that women undergo physically is enough of a deterrent for girls not to do it,” McMann said. “The side effects to these athletes’ bodies are horrible.”

MMA athletes who use PEDs are committing worse ethical crimes than athletes who take them in non-combat sports, she said.

“You are not going to sprint faster,” she said. “You are not going to swim faster. You are hurting other people’s bodies.”

McMann is thrilled to enter the cage on Saturday. She’s proud to be on the frontier of women’s MMA.

“I think it is growing tremendously,” said said. “Not only by the number of young girls and women who are entering the sport, but people’s perceptions are changing. I think Invicta is the frontrunner of pursuing this. Women are dedicating their lives to this and Invicta is showcasing the cream of the crop and I think it is awesome.”

Strikeforce has been the only major American promotion to promote women’s MMA. Dana White, president of the UFC, believes that there are not enough top-level women to have a women’s league in the UFC.

“Invicta right now has this ability to match people up,” McMann said. “They have the knack of creating exciting fights. We are doing are part training for fights. They are doing their part and giving us a platform and matching us against people.”

Some MMA observers believe that women’s MMA would be in trouble if Strikeforce folds once its contract with Showtime ends next year. Strikeforce is owned by Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC.

“I think Strikeforce is really great and I would hate for all the fighters to have to find a new contract, but Invicta is determined to have a role for great women fighters,” McMann said. “It could be a bad thing or it could be a good thing if Strikeforce were to go away.”

Either way, McMann one day see herself fighting Rousey inside the cage.
“I think that will absolutely happen,” McMann said.

In the meantime, she wishes Rousey would represent herself and the sport with more class. Rousey recently criticized Olympic great Michael Phelps’ athletic accomplishments, blasted Kim Kardashian for not deserving her fame, and went personal in the buildup before her match with Meisha Tate.

“I wouldn’t term her a role model, not one that I would want my daughter to look up to,” McMann said. “She’s intelligent in marketing. Either she doesn’t mind what she is saying or she doesn’t mind riling people up. “

McMann said the two are similar in that they are both top level athletes. But that’s where the similarities end.

“As an athlete I most certainly respect her skills and her throws and submissions,” McMann said. “But as far as something to look up to? I don’t feel like that.”

McMann also said there’s no place for trash talking in MMA.

“I don’t want my daughter to say things to just get people’s attention,” McMann said. “She is getting a tremendous amount of attention. It is not something that I want to do and I am glad that the other girls don’t do that.”

But McMann has some advice for young athletes.

“If you want to be great at this sport you need to work far harder than you ever thought you possibly could – before you ever get anything back,” McMann said. “That is the cornerstone of anyone’s success.”

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am

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I do understand where Sara McMann comes from. However, I think MMA is not really a sport event that a fighter doesn’t need to promote herself/himself. Ronda is very business-like when she deals with MMA fights. For instance, Sarah Kaufman is not well-known though she is a former champion of Strikeforce. Miesha Tate won’t have so many twitter fans if she didn’t fight with Ronda. It is the same way with Gina Carano without trash-talking. Ronda knows that you need to ‘force’ people like Dana White to appreciate that there’re also other girl fighters beside Gina Carano and Cyborg. You cannot just sit and wait for a white knight. Sarah Kaufman is nearly non-exist in public and it is Ronda who spent a lot of time promoting the fight.

All those names have strutted their ass in front of a camera to get noticed…Carano, Rousey, Tate (being the worst of them). Are they ring girls or are they fighters? The women fighting in InvictaFC this weekend are focused, well trained and strong determined women who spend every moment in the gym to make it to the top. Not Skypeing their every move like it matters. They are rising athletes who will fight their hearts out to be the best, not show tits in a photo to get people wanting to fallow them on facebook or twitter. Cute, sexy and model shots is not the image true WMMA fans want in womens MMA anymore. Let their fights display how talented they are instead of a mouth spitting claims of nonsense. A storm of warriors are on the way to show people what womens MMA is all about and these girls whos attention is more focused on their imagine rather than their training are going to be eatten alive.

the funny thing is rousey already ducked mcmann. But i do like what she says about rousey, marloes coenen is very well known and she never showed her ass to get attention, rousey is just in it for quick fame, mark my words once she getsher face busted up, that will be it for one trick pony rousey.(when you only have 1trick it does get figured out) palhares and his leg locks they didnt work aganst marquart or belcher and see what happened, this will happen once rousey arm bar fails, and it will fail.because that the only consistant thing in mma somebody always figures out a way to defend

Ronda Rousey is fairly misrepresented here. First off, everyone is going on about her nude photos? FOR ESPN’s Body issue, with several other athletes? Its not like she posed for Penthouse here, are those other athletes held to the same scrutiny?

Ronda’s trash talking? Does anyone belong to Twitter, have they followed Ronda and Miesha? Miesha is the one who throws below the belt, not Ronda. But either way – those girls have done more for womans MMA than anyone recently.

I love these people who say “let the fights display the talents, not the trash talk and hype”. Lets all remember this is womans mma. MMA itself is still working to audience, womans even more so. No hype, no audience, then you will end up with two quiet and talented fighters fighting in someones backyard. No contracts, no money – is that what people want? And TALENT? Let someone get into the 2nd round with Ronda Rousey before we knock her talent? It aint like shes breaking arms with her good looks.

This new fighter, sounds great. But if you think her way of trash talking isnt trash talking your wrong. Shes trash talking in her own way.

Oh and the Michael Phelps and Kim Kardashian comments – watch those interviews in whole, and tell me if what you would have done with reporters PUSHING the shit out of you for something, some comment, something controversial – then soundbiting what you said and spinning the hell out of it.

Olympic Silver Medalist Sara McMann makes some very good points here. She’s a talented fighter who prefers to be respected for her character and fighting skills. Sara complimented Ronda Rousey’s grappling and submission skills but also mentioned Ronda is not a role model Sara would want her daughter to admire. That is understandable. Rousey slammed UFC ring card girls for wearing skimpy outfits but then decided to pose nude for a popular magazine. Rousey received a 4th place Olympic Bronze Medal but criticized a true Olympic legend Michael Phelps because he didn’t notice her in a large crowd of athletes. The earlier poster mlawless was incorrect about the Rousey/Tate Twitter war. Miesha always kept it classy, Ronda did not. The reporters might ask the questions but Ronda knew exactly what she was doing when she made her controversial remarks. I believe Sara McCann just doesn’t respect Ronda Rousey’s character.